Customize Windows 7

May 03, 2014

Change wallpaper

Shake up your desktop wallpaper, the image that you see whenever you login. You can either find an image online (make sure it is large and high quality, at least 1400 px wide), or find a photo in your documents. Then right-click on the image file and select Set as desktop background. Alternatively, you can go to Control Panel, click on Personalization, and Desktop Background at the bottom.

Want to proudly display your Vanier pride? Right-Click on the wallpaper, and save it to your computer.


Change window border glass colour

Tired of looking at the basic blue glass of the windows?  Windows 7 lets you set their intensity, transparency, hue, saturation, and brightness.

Open up Control Panel, click on Personalization, and Window Color and Appearance.


Change your account picture

From the User Accounts control panel, choose one of the 36 included images or browse your own pictures for your representation in user-icon form.


Change the system sounds

If you’re tired of the standard old Windows error and notification sounds, try switching to “Afternoon,” which uses gentle guitar notes; “Raga,” with its South Asian sitar sounds; or “Sonata,” with its classical instruments. Changing your theme also changes your sounds, but you can also mix and match so that it fits your sonic delights!

Open up Sound in Control Panel, and select the Sounds tab.


Move the taskbar

Vista and XP let you move the taskbar, too, and users of those operating systems who preferred the taskbar reside on the sides or top of the screen can easily drag it to any of those locations. Before you try dragging it, make sure to right click on the taskbar and uncheck Lock the Taskbar.


Change the power button action

In Windows 7, the default for the Power button is powering down the PC. But you can change it to sleep, switch user, log off, lock, or restart from either the Start Menu tab on the taskbar or the Start Menu Properties dialog, which you can open by right-clicking the taskbar and choosing Properties.